


never leave my girl

by ClarkeRipley



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Magic has a Price, but rarely very rarely it's hilarious, something it's horrifying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22020385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClarkeRipley/pseuds/ClarkeRipley
Summary: Thanks to Future Nico's interference Karolina and Nico become inseparable. Literally
Relationships: Karolina Dean & Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru
Comments: 5
Kudos: 142





	never leave my girl

Magic. People have always tried to define it. One of the most common attempts was describing it as science we don’t understand yet. But this is false. Science can be defined, it can be replicated, can be understood. Not so with magic. Even the most experienced of magic users knew magic was unpredictable. You could never replicate a spell perfectly. Oh you could get it close enough for practical purposes but there was a catch. Most of the time it was just a tiny detail that barely mattered but it was always different.

The reason for this because the center of all magic far more important than any ingredient or power was intent. Intent was at the center of every spell, of every ritual. And intent could never be the same because people were never same. Each day, each new experience, each new emotion changed who one is as a person and thus changed their magic as well, the more intense the emotion, the more powerful the intent resulted in more and more unpredictable changes

The Staff of One was the physical incarnation of this basic principle not even allowing the same words to be uttered without consequences.

Nico Minoru knew this in theory but during the past three years she had gained great control over her magic and the variances in her spells were miniscule. She was so confident in her abilities that she didn’t even consider that her spell could go wrong. So when she used a Mind Seed spell on the subconscious mind of her past self to make sure that didn’t take the horrible decision to leave Karolina behind she didn’t expect any problems. It was supposed to be a slight push, something her past self wouldn’t even notice.

What she didn’t take in account was that she was no longer in the Sanctuary where she could center her mind in peace. She couldn’t be calm or objective when it came to Karolina, especially when it came to losing Karolina. She didn’t even notice that she poured all her love for Karolina, all the pain and regret from her loss into the spell. That instead of putting a few drops of power she poured an entire ocean into it

Luckily for her she would be erased from existence in mere minutes and wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of her botched spell. Her past self on the other hand…..

It was barely a day after the battle with Morgan and the changes were just starting for the young Runaways. The Hostel was too badly damaged for them to continue living there not to mention that it was rather pointless seeing as how their parents knew where they were hiding now. So as much as they (Alex specifically ) hated it they had reached a tentative agreement. Their parents would leave them at peace and wouldn’t approach them until they were ready to talk again. Leslie had also volunteered to move to the church and leave the house to them. They didn’t outright say that they expect for their kids to stop trying to take them down but it was heavily implied

Alex was extremely unhappy with the idea. He was still obsessed with putting their parents and especially his father into prison but none of them had the energy to run and find another hideout and to start the battle all over again. Staying in an enormous secluded mansion with all the comfort they could ever need had been a far too tempting offer to resist .They were all nostalgic about the hostel, it had become their home but at the end their home wasn’t a place but each other

The first two days they barely left their rooms as the exhaustion and trauma caught up with them. They still weren’t sure exactly what happened. Chase said that it must have been time travel. Molly it was alternate dimensions but whatever it was seeing Chase any version of Chase dead and bleeding on the ground had been beyond traumatic and they all needed time to recover

The Dean Mansion had plenty of room for all of them. Karolina and Nico had settled in Karolina’s old room. Molly had gone in one of the guest rooms and Chase and Gert now firmly together again had taken the second guest room. Alex as usual had isolated himself in the pool house

At the third day they were finally feeling a little more like themselves and they felt ready to live their lives again. Chase and Gert had gone on a date, Molly and Alex had gone shopping respectively for clothes and computer parts. Karolina had decided to go jogging in the woods behind the house like in the old days and Nico had used the peace and quiet to take a look at the spellbook that Tina had given her. Her mother told her that this would give her the basics but if she wanted to learn real magic she would have to come to her for lessons. This was something that could only be taught in person. Nico had a lot of feelings on this subject most of them being summed up in the “fuck this idea“category . She may not have the same burning resentment for her mother as before but she would never forgive her for the monstrous acts that she had committed

Sitting on their bed with crossed legs she began to read

Karolina breathed the fresh air and stretched as she prepared to go on her run. She used to love jogging before her life went crazy. It used to make her feel free, feel normal with just the wind in her hair and nobody to bother her, nobody to expect her to be the perfect church girl. She ran only for a few meters before she tripped and feel right on her face

“Ouch” she whimpered

“Whoa” exclaimed Nico as she fell of the bed. It felt like something had dragged her right over the edge. Fearfully looking at the book she carefully set it on the table and took a step back

Karolina’s leg twitched as she tried to get up. For some reason her whole body felt heavy as if someone had put weights on her. She knew it’s been a while since she exercised and that the last few months have been exhausting and she didn’t exactly have access to quality food but she couldn’t be this out of shape could she? It usually took running 10k for her to feel like this. Gritting her teeth she resolutely started walking struggling with each step

“Shit shit shit” cursed Nico as felt herself being dragged again. She tried to plant her feet but that didn’t help much as whatever force was dragging easily overpowered her weak stance and continued dragging her until she hit the door. Thankfully the door finally stopped it

“Ugh” Karolina strained with all her might but for some reason she couldn’t take even one step further. This was not her being out of shape, this was definitely something unnatural. She looked around but there was no one there. At first she feared that this could be some kind of attack but it didn’t make sense? She seemed to have no problem moving backwards or sideways so if this was an attack why just stop her from moving forward? She decided to experiment and took a few dozen steps backs .

“Finally” said Nico as she felt the pressure pinning against the door finally let off. It was if something had been trying to stubbornly drag her through the door for the last several minutes. The book didn’t seem to be doing anything but she couldn’t imagine what else this could be so she quickly used her new found freedom to get it and throw it out of the window as hard as she could

Launching into a powerful sprint Karolina felt the pressure appear again after a few steps but this time she was ready and braced herself for the impact

Nico was not ready when whatever force had been haunting made it’s comeback so suddenly. This time it was even stronger and Nico was launched off her feet and dragged until her butt hit the door hard.

“Dammit” yelled Karolina when whatever force had been keeping her from moving forward appeared again. She was not going to give in. There must be something hidden just out of her reach. Logic told her that she should go back and talk with her friends but the thought that something was messing with her in her own home made her too angry and stubborn to leave. Also luckily for her she had other options. Knowing that the Dean estate was extremely isolated to avoid the press she felt confident enough to activate her powers as she began to rise above the woods looking intently at what was in front. So far it seemed to be just simple trees but as she rose higher she suddenly felt the pressure again. Something was holding her down

Nico clutched her Staff with one hand and the bed with another. It’s been a few minutes since the force had messed with her but this time she was ready. Or at least she thought she was ready because this time instead of being dragged towards the door she began floating towards the ceiling rather rapidly. Clutching to the bed for dear life she gripped the Staff hard and remembering that she could use more than one word she formulated a plan

“Bring whatever is doing this to me here” she commanded only to see the staff glow and shoot a ray of purple energy out of the window   
  
Karolina had time to only yelp before a purple beam of energy grabbed her and dragged her back to the house. Before she even knew what was happening she was crashing through her own window landing on the bed right next to a startled Nico

“Nico?!?”

“Karolina?!?”

“What is happening?”

“What is happening?”


End file.
